Arts trail part 1 - paper mobiles

I have been playing with my paper robot again .


This is a remake of the 1st complex cut paper thing I made. I blogged about it here. 


This is based on another thing I blogged about here. 

I made a few mobiles  to hang up along with my pictures for the Chew valley arts trail. It was an experiment to see if anyone might be interested in them. Surprisingly, I sold loads and still have orders to make! A good friend will be selling some other similar designs at a local craft market in December.

Sorry my pictures are ropey!

My workspace

I thought I'd post something about my studio. Its the old dining room of my house. Our kitchen is big enough to eat in, so this room's mine. We got the house a year ago and the room looked like this - you can't tell from this crappy picture but it was mouldy, both the the brown walls and the brown carpet.


I moved all my clobber in and set to work amongst the mould and dust. Then one day Bill and I cleared it out and pulled the carpet up. Two weeks later it looked like this. I painted the lino pale blue so its a lot lighter in there now.


I'll happily admit to being into house porn. I buy Elle Deco monthly - its a lot cheaper than doing my house up! And I look at websites full of inspiring workspaces. Mostly very sparse with a carefully placed mid century/vintage nik-nak or two. Inspiring to look at but I wouldn't get much done in that sort of room. 

My space is no shrine to design. Its functional. And its not very tidy. The making process is very fiddly and precise but I tend to chuck paper around and rummage through drawers looking for stuff. I'm sitting here with 2 cupboards, 1 drawer and a toolbox open right now, and that bureau is never closed! 

Here is a work room that I could work in. Fleur Cowles was an artist, philanthropist, publisher of Flair Magazine, aircraft pilot, and a lot more. This is her study. I think she probably had someone else do the dusting!



My studio is open for the Chew Valley Arts Trail this weekend 13 - 14 October. 

Along with my framed pictures, I'm hoping to have some paper mobiles for sale like this red and yellow one in my studio picture and also some a bit like this based on my Womans Realm pictures.

Come along and see.

Desperate Artwives

I have my pictures in this show. It opens on 28th June - my birthday! Unfortunately I won't be there for wine and nibbles, which is a pity as I'd love to meet the other women in the show.

Come to the Private View!
I am really excited to be chosen for it. This is the second show put together by Amy Dignam. The first show was reviewed favourably by Jane Martinson in the Guardian - here. There are a lot of very talented women squeezing time from the daily grind to make artwork as you can see on the Desperate Artwives website.

Mothers of course, aren't alone in this tightrope walk of the daily grind v artistic practice. Its difficult for anyone, beyond Art School to carry on making stuff. Time, space and money are all necessary. Essentially, this show puts the spotlight on women with a family making art and it is timely. Surrounded by lifestyle and craft blogs, sometimes I feel it would be easier if I just knitted and made toys for my children. It would seem, that its very acceptable to be a creative mummy if it is directed toward your children. I say this as my children are playing outside, whilst their dad is in charge for the second day in a row. I've got a deadline for next week...

I feel guilty, yet at the same time I'm pleased that I'm trying to get my career off the ground, something that will hopefully benefit my family. But this is not yet a paying job and right now I know that I'm letting people down. The people who mean the most to me. Maybe that's the difference between the Desperate Artwives and the other Desperate Artists. The emotional pull you feel as a parent is a particular context in which to make art.

Cyril Connolly famously said, "There is no more sombre enemy of good art than the pram in the hall."

I disagree. I could have got my finger out before I had children, and I didn't. For me they're my biggest inspiration.

I would say that the rubber gloves under the sink are an altogether more sinister opponent...

The First Big Weekend

I refer to this post.

Not the track by Arab Strap, but what is for me, the 1st big weekend of the year - putting my work out there in public.
It went well, lots of really positive comments and I met some really lovely people.
Special thanks to all the people I know who made the effort to come along, especially Lou from Littlegreenshed for agreeing to take some decent pictures of my work.
Special thanks again to Vicx at Paper Village for letting me use the space, and for creating such a hub of creativity in South Bristol.

Tomorrow I'm off exploring the Arts Trail with friends and family. I'll report back later...

Curtains


My latest effort for the Southbank Arts Trail on Saturday and Sunday. I'm showing my stuff in Paper Village on North Street, Southville, Bristol.

It is still a single piece of paper sandwiched between two pieces of glass but its a bit of a departure in process; a combination of a soldering iron and scalpel with synthetic paper. A more painterly process, using heat to remove the material, but just as time consuming! I'm sort of  hoping to get another bigger one done before the weekend but I'm probably kidding myself.

Got a billion things to do, like make business cards and sort out prices and of course, actually hang things on a wall! I'll probably sell nothing but it'll be an adventure.

Woman's Realm - 1st big one done!

Finished finally. 
Its fortunate that the sun's come out just as I got it finished yesterday! I'm really enjoying the shadows it makes against the background..


I got through quite a few scalpel blades.  

Now to get cracking on the rest of them. As usual, I've tonnes of ideas and not enough time. Its half term now so no school run and I’ll be hanging with my small people in the day. Taking things easy and hopefully I’ll have a bit more energy in the evenings to get some smaller pieces finished.

Weekend work

I got some time and space today to get stuff done.  I started with this one. Yes I've done it before, but after yesterday's shaky start I thought it would be best to go for a familiar warm up.

The Kozo paper is very lovely to cut, but you have to go so slowly as it is very easy to mess up.  On the lightbox, you can see the texture of the paper - very delicate, super strong fibres. Its tidier than the last version.



Template in progress for the biggest hangers piece - 0.5m diameter. I have an A4 printer so its a bit of a jigsaw puzzle. Took bloomin' ages.


Piece in progress. I'm about half way. I thought it would be done but alas, things take longer than you think and I can't really rush it!


Hopefully it'll be done and framed this week...

Byee.

Aaaaaargh. No more hangers!

More hangers?
Well that's it. The final comp. Probably the final colour too. It'll be about a foot square. Just got to source some paper now.
 The other one was a bit crap. Too messy.
Seems to be that as soon as I put anything up on here I go, "Oh I know, I'll do this instead!".
Well at least the blog is keeping me motivated.

I am struggling a bit this week. Its half term. I'm bloody knackered. Too knackered in the evening to risk wielding a scalpel! I'm hoping, this weekend for some time out from my lovely children to get some cutting done.